The Gould Standard
A conversational podcast about the arts, culture, and contemporary society.
We talk with artistic heroes working to create a more inclusive and mindful world, hear their incredible stories, and get to know what makes them tick. Our guests are leaders in a wide range of fields, nationalities, and lived experience, including musical composers and performers, painters, poets, filmmakers, actors, dancers, broadcasters, and more.

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Barbara Hannigan: A Modern Maestra
/RSS FeedIf there is such a thing as a superstar in the world of contemporary classical music, soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan ranks at the top of a very short list. With her quicksilver voice, charismatic personality and the striking physicality she brings to each performance, she has done what most people considered impossible – making the music of Ligeti, Boulez and Schoenberg irresistible to the many. Add to that her growing fame in the still male-dominated filed of orchestral conducting, and you have Barbara Hannigan, one of today’s truly transformative musical forces. From her beginnings in Waverley, Nova Scotia to the great stages of the world, we talked with Barbara about her meteoric rise, her work with today’s greatest composers and the joys of bringing modern masterpieces to life.
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The Passions of Viggo Mortensen: Part II
/RSS FeedIn Part II of our conversation with Viggo Mortensen, we delve into this protean artist’s multidimensional engagements following his landmark success in the film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. From music, to photography, painting and publishing, his multilingual acting roles and even his fascination for a masterpiece of silent film, Viggo delights and astonishes with his boundless curiosity, creativity and passion.
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The Passions of Viggo Mortensen: Part I
/RSS FeedViggo Mortensen is a kaleidoscopically talented artist whose work spans a vast range of creative media from acting, directing, music, poetry, painting, photography and book publishing. Enshrined in the hearts and minds of film lovers and fantasy fans as the perfect embodiment of Aragorn the King in Lord of the Rings, Viggo joins us during his time in quarantine via Zoom for Part One of a candid and far-reaching conversation of his formative experiences, creative passions and Tolkien-esque adventures.


